Antonio Conte immediately makes his mark in his first week as coach of Tottenham Hotspur. The Athletic writes on Wednesday about the way in which the successor of Nuno Espírito Santo communicates with the group of players. After the won Conference League game against Vitesse (3-2) Conte is said to have admitted to players that they are overweight, after which he has implemented a ban on the use of ketchup and mayonnaise.
Tottenham almost gave away a 3-0 lead against Vitesse last Thursday. Afterwards, in the dressing room, Conte expressed his satisfaction with the work done by his players, but the coach added that they need to get fitter. It was the last time he wanted to see overweight players, Conte is said to have said. The mentality of the team had to change. Conte finds ‘a handful of players’ too heavy. He wants them to eat less after training and doesn’t want to see ketchup or mayonnaise in the kitchen anymore. Conte wants players to eat more fruit, rather than fruit juice, and is not in favor of frying food with butter or oil.
Under Conte, the players have lunch together in the afternoon. He has always placed great value on nutrition: during his time at Chelsea, between 2016 and 2018, the Italian turned against ketchup, soft drinks, pizza and the British HP sauce. Chelsea players were then allowed to add salt and pepper to their meals, but instead of ‘regular’ vinegar, the coach opted for balsamic vinegar. Conte wants his players to be in top shape so they can deal with his tough training sessions. After Friday’s training, a day after the victory over Vitesse, some players said they were ‘dead’. Some players who had come into action against Vitesse were back on the training field twelve hours later.
They also arrived tired at training, after a rigorous analysis of the match against Vitesse. Conte wanted to take 20 minutes to review the Conference League game, but the video analysis ended up taking 75 minutes. As a result, the training only started at 11.45 am, almost an hour later than initially planned. The players then trained “at a level of intensity not seen at Tottenham since the era of Mauricio Pochettino.” Normally players would be found in the pool or gym a day after a game, but Conte had them appear on the training pitch. Tottenham then paid a visit to Everton (0-0) on Sunday in the first Premier League game under the new coach.